Charity works in a number of ways, and I recently hadthe chance to see an inspiring example of how it works for familiesstill trying to get back home in New York at the three-yearanniversary of Superstorm Sandy.

Volunteers from Zurich Insuranceteamed with the St. BernardProject on yet another home-rebuilding project along the EastCoast.

24-hour build

As I left my New York hotel and started my drive to the housefor the 24-hour build, I noticed a lot of the streets in theRockaways were flooded from the rain earlier that morning and thenight before. I thought about the current conditions and what itmust be like for residents when a major storm comes through andwreaks havoc on the community.

I arrived at the home and felt the excitement among theparticipants. Our Zurich volunteers were ready to get started asmany of them have been on a St. Bernard Project build before.Zurich has continued to support the nonprofit organization inrebuilding disaster-affected communities nationwide. We all madename tags and did introductions. The site supervisors gave us theirbios and a little more information about St. Bernard Project andtheir builds in progress across the United States.

Special trip from Illinois to New York tohelp

Then, we got to work. Almost everyone started out doing somesanding. I grabbed a ladder and began working on the front ceilingand walls. The site supervisors were good about explaining where togo and what to do. As we performed our assigned tasks, we chattedamong ourselves and got to know each other. As I had flown in fromIllinois, I didn’t know our company volunteers very well. So, Iintroduced myself, asked about their role at Zurich, and was alwaysable to find a connection we both knew.

After sanding, we all moved on to mudding. Some were learningthis skill for the first time and others were seasoned volunteers.It was uplifting to see people taking the task seriously andwanting to do the best job possible for the family. We worked onother tasks throughout the day, and I was exhausted at the end. Atthe close of our shift, we cleaned up and got the site ready forthe next round of volunteers who would work on the house from 5-11p.m. Unfortunately, it continued to rain all night.

This aerial photo shows burned-out homes in the Breezy Pointsection of the Queens borough New York after a fire on Tuesday,Oct. 30, 2012. The tiny beachfront neighborhood, told to evacuatebefore Sandy hit New York, burned down as it was inundated byfloodwaters, transforming a quaint corner of the Rockaways into asmoke-filled debris field. (Photo: Mike Groll/AP Photo)

Amazing progress overnight

When I headed back to the site at about 5 a.m. for the finalshift of volunteers, it was amazing to see all of the progress thatoccurred overnight. A good portion of the mudding and taping wasdone, and this final shift would finish it off. I walked throughthe house and was so inspired by all of the hard work completed inthe past 12 hours. All these people worked through the night,voluntarily, to help move the homeowner closer to the point ofbeing in her home. Everyone exhibited such dedication and passionto get the job done.

While it was 5 a.m. and most were tired from having to get up soearly, we knew we were nearing the finish line of the 24-hourbuild. The group was ready to go. There was still more mudding tobe done as well as some framing. The rain let up and we were hopingfor a better weather day, but we all remained inside again andfocused our efforts there.

As we approached the end of the fourth shift on the morning ofSandy’s anniversary, members of the media arrived and the homeownerwas there for some interviews and photos. I heard her speak aboutthe tragic events from three years ago and how the community wasjust frozen. People wouldn’t leave their homes because of thelooting, but at home they lacked utilities.

Homeowner gratitude

As I listened to the homeowner, you could hear the gratitude inher voice for the work of St. Bernard Project and all thevolunteers. She still lives upstairs and comes down once in a whileto see the progress on the ground floor. St. Bernard Project ishoping to bring the homeowner fully “home” by the end of 2015.

As we completed the round-the-clock build, another group ofvolunteers was arriving to continue the rebuilding efforts. Thisgroup has been coming every Thursday and was excited to see all ofthe progress made in the past day.

A worker stabilizes a pre-cast concrete slab while aco-worker uses a crane to position it on a berm as constructioncontinues on replacement portions of the Rockaway Beach boardwalkTuesday, Oct. 27, 2015, in New York, before the third anniversaryof Superstorm Sandy. Since the storm, more than $140 million hasbeen invested to repair and restore damaged areas of RockawayBeach, including the boardwalk, beach buildings, and to constructnew facilities for the public. (Photo: Kathy Willens/APPhoto)

Volunteering and building with St. Bernard Project has been sucha great experience and truly rewarding on many levels. Zurichvolunteers have contributed on a monthly basis for the past threeyears. The most amazing part for me is meeting the homeowners. Inthe midst of the events they have endured, they have remained braveand continue to push forward. To bring them home is more thanrebuilding a structure. It’s restoring a place where family andfriends can safely gather and enjoy each other’s company.

Helping post-disaster

After a major storm, we hear about all of the displaced familiesand see the news stories. But when you are there and talk to themin person, it’s different. It’s real.

Seeing organizations like St. Bernard Project step up and helppost-disaster for years at a time is the true meaning of beingthere for the community. Zurich is proud of our work with them tobring more families home and to show how charity really works.

We also have been working with St. Bernard Project on disasterpreparedness. We want to build resilience in communities and getahead of these severe storms – for people to be prepared enough tostay safe, mitigate damage, and resume daily activities shortlyafterward. As St. Bernard Project always says, their mission is tobe out of business. Let’s keep working to that end.

Jenae O’Neil is program manager in community investment atZurich North America.